I really do love Video Games. It's a great song and I think you'd have to be musically stunted not to like it. But Born to Die has been a huge disappointment.
Lyrically it's pretty weak. Here's a verse from Dark Paradise.
All my friends ask me
Why I stay strong
Tell 'em when you find true love it lives on
That's why I stay here
There's no remedy, for memory
Your face is like a melody
It won't leave my head
Your soul is haunting me
And telling me that everything is fine
But I wish I was dead
Yikes. It seems as though she wants to be seen as deep and meaningful but the lyrics are too linear and obvious to make them poetic. She also works too hard on making things rhyme which to me is a bit naff. And melodically it's very middle of the road. It's benefited from some pretty slick production but that's about it.
Her laconic voice is the album's only redeeming feature. But alas, after having watched her perform Video Games on Saturday Night Live I seriously question the merits of her vocals.
She may aspire to be an indie songwriter, but this album places her firmly in the pop genre.
Whatever it is about Girls' album Father, Son, Holy Ghost but it sounds like I've already heard it. I was singing along to songs midway through despite the fact that I was on a first listen. I'm not quite sure if this is a good thing or not because it may mean I'll get sick of them very quickly. Clearly influenced by music from the 60s and 70s there is nothing strikingly original about them but are refreshing nonetheless. There's been a lot of hooha about them but whether they'll stand the test of time, I'm not so sure. But who needs longevity? I'm all about the here and now these days.
This track, Honey Bunny is written about lead singer Christopher Owens' mother. It has a nice surf rock vibe to it. The video features some questionable fashion choices that reminds me of the line 'indeterminate sexual preference, something retro on my necklace' from the Being a Dickhead is Cool is viral:
This second song is a slow burner and has a real Pink Floyd feeling to it. The videos for both this and Honey Bunny feature all-American cars; a Chevrolet Corvette and a '66 Mustang respectively. I suspect the band might be big car fans.
I'm guessing they'll be doing the rounds at festivals next summer.
Azealia Banks heralds the return of urban hip hop proper. This twenty year old funky lyricist from Harlem, NY has temporarily moved to London to complete her first album and has been signed to an undisclosed major label (my totally random guess is she's been signed to Interscope).
Extensive use of an explicit word beginning with the letter 'c' makes 212 a tune that is not for the lyrically close-minded. But if you're not fazed by these things you'll have to agree she's a rhyming genius. Structurally I love this track; the use of a really nice middle eight forces you to reflect and beautifully prepares you for the heavy bassed climax.
Azealia Banks '212':
It's also good to see that a great video can be made on what I imagine is a relatively low budget.
I will admit that back in the early 2000s when the like of Popstars and Pop Idol were launched I watched with eager anticipation to see who would win. Very quickly the novelty of these so called 'talent shows' wore off because the contestants were below par. At the start the hopefuls were bearable, but the talent pool dried up very quickly and in an attempt to mask the substandard quality of the entrants, X Factor UK now includes these horribly cringey and utterly talentless characters that feature purely to increase ratings and voting income. Prime examples include Wagner, Diva Fever and Mary Byrne. Yes. Mary Byrne, that lovely lady from Ballyfermot. Accuse me of being cynical but I am convinced she only made the live shows to get more of us Irish on the voting bandwagon. And this year that little urchin Janet Devlin is the token Paddy who is pretty mediocre and is quite obviously a lame attempt to rip-off Ellie Goulding.
Which brings me nicely on to my second major gripe; In Janet's initial audition she performed Elton John's Your Song. I'm no Elton fan but it's a great tune, possibly his best. Needless to say she performed it in her wavering, faux-innocent, child-like, cute little Irish girl way. The judges gushed. The audience roared. She was through. She was commended on the originality of her interpretation. How beautiful. Pure genius. Eh hello?! Despite the fact that these people work in the music industry they fail to mention that Janet's version of Your Song is remarkably similar to Ellie Goulding's. Now, I'm not suggesting they don't know Ellie Goulding's version, what I am suggesting is they clearly want to portray her as amazingly unique and different. Go X Factor!
This isn't the first time this has happened either. Cast your memory back to the year 2002. Remember Will Young? (where's he's gone?!). In case you can't remember back that far, he was the winner of the very first Pop Idol. Aaaaanyway, quite a few times during the competition Will performed Light My Fire by The Doors which led to ridiculous amounts of praise for his original interpretation of the song. I still remember how irked I was by this. There was absolutely nothing original about his interpretation as it is identical to that of Jose Feliciano's.
Here we have Will Young's 'original' interpretation:
And Jose Felicano's version, released in 1968:
Despite my disillusionment with X Factor UK, I have a soft spot for the American X Factor. Shock horror the American version actually has people that can sing on it! Who knew? But we all know that the vast majority, including the winners, will disappear into obscurity once the show is over. Why is this? My theory is that even though these people may have excellent vocals, ironically they do not possess the X Factor.
Take Melanie Amaro for example. Her performance of Beyonce's Listen is near pitch perfect. Yet, it misses that j'ai ne c'est quoi. Actually it's not a certain something, I think I know exactly what it is. First off, she hasn't got the looks. I know it's cruel, but let's be honest with ourselves the music industry is superficial. Beyonce on the other hand is absolutely gorgeous, no arguments there. Secondly, Melanie Amaro's voice is very consistent but unfortunately isn't distinctive. Whereas, Beyonce's voice is multi-dimensional, ranging from gravelly to complete tonal lucidity. It also possesses an incredibly unique timbre that is immediately identifiable.
Melanie Amaro singing Listen:
Beyonce singing Listen (few keys lower):
Having a unique voice is almost a prerequisite to success. Name any truly successful solo artist and they will all have very distinctive voices. Some examples that come to mind are: Elvis, John Lennon, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Annie Lennox, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Florence Welch, Lauryn Hill, Neil Young...you get the point.
In 2010 when Marina and the Diamonds released her first album The Family Jewels I couldn't get enough of it. I loved her vocals that bounced, snapped and almost warbled their way through the songs. In terms of production it was polished and refined with synth featuring heavily, but it was also punctuated with strings, piano, brass, catchy guitar riffs and solid drums which gave her music quite a unique indie-pop sound. While it was close to mainstream, it was too left of centre to receive widespread radio play, but that was ok because she was a zany cartoon-themed lyrical feminist carving a niche for herself.
Fast forward a year and a bit of success later and it seems that any individuality she previously possessed has been sucked out of her. I blame this almost entirely on her collaboration with leading pop producers. Now admittedly I've only listened to two songs off her forthcoming album (entitled Electra Heart) but there has been quite a genre shift towards to what I can only describe as 'Rhianna'. The vocals, the production, everything about it stinks of Rhianna and it's hardly surprising given the fact that those behind this Rhianna-ing of Diamandis is no other than Norwegian production duo Stargate responsible for other Rhianna crimes such as 'Don't Stop the Music', 'S&M', 'Take a Bow', 'Rude Boy', 'Only Girl (In the World)' and 'What's My Name?'.
Ok, ok, maybe it's a bit harsh to refer to Rhianna's music as 'crimes' as they are amazing feats of production, are undoubtedly catchy and have topped the charts across the globe. But the overt sexual references and commodifying of her sexuality is both unnecessary and cheap, particularly when you consider that the vast majority of her fans are in their teens or younger. Whether these overtones will be applied to Marina's new album is unclear, although a demo leaked earlier this year was called 'Sex, Yeah' so my guess is that she may be towing the Rhianna-line.
If this is the case, I think it's kind of ironic because to quote Marina in 'Oh No'; 'I know exactly what I want and who I want to be...', maybe that's not quite the case anymore...
Here's her new single, Radioactive:
And the other one is Fear and Loathing which has a more Katy Perry sound to it. It's really not great:
I was introduced to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros when I was in the States recently and they will definitely be worth checking out at the Picnic. They're a band with a ridiculously large number of members so it would be interesting to know how many of the ensemble will be present in Stradbally.
Their style is almost retro and is reminiscent of a Cash-Carter sound:
Foster the People aren't around that long and their debut album Torches is the kind of foot-tapping indie-electropop that's so catchy it's infectious. Their harmonies and the overall feelgood summery vibe you get from them is just too much to resist.
I love this post-apocalyptic video with its evil kids. Must've cost a fortune to make:
